


loose lips sink ships

by gaytimetraveller



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: i mean. hes only there briefly but well enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 16:09:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17083490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaytimetraveller/pseuds/gaytimetraveller
Summary: Skuld waits at the Keyblade Graveyard, and practices for what she knows comes next.





	loose lips sink ships

**Author's Note:**

> ive been in math hell but a few days ago me and my friend watched all of khx and khux and now we've got a boatload of fun theories. anyways welcome to my hip traitor theory and also vaguely a few other things since square is likely too cowardly to write a more complex girl with interesting motives so ill just do everything myself i guess

The Graveyard was arid, as always. The air was dry and hot, almost to the point of feeling harsh, and the ground crunched beneath Skuld’s boots. At odds with the barren land and the oppressive heat, Skuld practically skipped along. Even with the sun beating down on her and the fact that she was practically surrounded by the graves of what had once been her friends— her neighbours, her rivals, her comrades—she had what might’ve been the widest smile she’d given in her life.

It wasn’t genuine. Of course it wasn’t genuine. She was practicing. She alternated between wide, bared teeth smiles, and the more shy closed mouth smiles as she paced back and forth. She thought that maybe she looked too aggressive when she was all teeth, but with her mouth closed it bordered too close to a smirk.

The constant behind every smile was the clenched jaw, always tightly closed. That was the easiest way to ensure nothing could sneak out. Loose lips sink ships, now more than ever.

She paced back and forth again, boots still crunching against the ground in what felt like far too loud of a sound. This world was silent, always silent, forever to be silent, and any noise felt like a disruption, like the spirits of the dead would rise from their untimely graves to cease the ruckus. But Skuld had no reason to fear the dead, she knew she was already the worst spirit in this Graveyard.

As she went around and around, back and forth and back and forth, pace steady and steps measured, she silently recited the lines she had practiced so much in her head. She shaped her mouth around the words, trying to make them feel natural, as if this wasn’t all some great rehearsed scheme, but she didn’t speak them out loud. Not a sound left her mouth, only the sound of her footsteps and the distant whirl of wind.

She practiced smiling in tandem with her words, then what kind of faces she would make as she feigned surprise, or happiness, or anything else. Eventually, her pacing slowed and she hopped on top of a rock formation. Not a natural one. It was one that had been carved out during the war, the whole top had been taken off and smoothened out to a quite inorganic degree.

Skuld huffed, letting her shoulders drop for a moment. She leaned forward on one elbow, watching the ever abandoned landscape with a careful eye. For a moment, she deliberated, and once she had decided her chances were decent enough she stood up on top of the rock and began clambering up the higher spires nearby. She almost laughed at how easy it was, how easy these things seemed now. Her past reservations seemed so foolish.

She managed to get herself to the top of a nice cliff, overlooking the mass grave that lay below. She let her legs hang over the edge, swinging them back and forth as she watched and waited, one dark speck on a tall cliff.

Absently, she scratched her back with one hand. It’d been itching since—well, since the mark had appeared. Thinking of the mark, she vaguely noted that the graves below formed the shape of a crossroads, an “X”. Interesting.

Skuld smiled dryly to herself, and that was genuine, not for performance’s sake. Maybe the rumours she heard had indeed been true; it wasn’t the war, it was what came after. And she recognized the foul sigil as well as any wielder would. Had it all only been for this? Only time could tell, but it wasn’t on her agenda. She had no concern for the happenings of the distant future.

She leaned back on her arms, running over the passages of the book she had committed to memory, then once again the lines she had conjured for herself. The wind was stronger up here, but no less hot. It blew her hair around, ruffled her clothes, and she simply let it, basking in the overwhelming heat with not much of an expression at all.

It was better than the last time she’d been to the Graveyard. Not all that long ago, rain and blood and who-knows-what-else had turned the ground into what felt like one giant mud puddle. It had been gross. She would take the dry heat any day.

Over the faint shriek of the wind and the little noises her legs made when she swung them and they hit off solid stone, she heard the faint sound of crunching footsteps. Skuld looked down over the cliff, and finally, _finally_ , there he was.

She drew in one last deep breath, letting him meander about a bit. Her chest rattled with the dry air, and whatever was left in her chest rattled along with it. It had been a long time since there had been much in there; it’d been far too long since her deep-rooted bitterness had wrapped its’ way around her heart. She still held it inside, confined within her rib cage—but it had festered into something far greater than she ever expected, and she couldn’t quite say she regretted it. Her newfound nature had given her certain...advantages.

Idly, she scratched one hand across her back again, gazing down at her former best friend pacing around and scratching his head. _Good,_ she thought.

Skuld smiled. It was her perfect practiced smile. Her jaw was clenched tight, and the book stashed inside her jacket felt heavier than ever. _Loose lips sink ships_. Or in this case, break nightmare’s necks. She stood up on the cliff, stretched out, patted her jacket just to make sure she still had it, and then it was a quick portal down. Barely noticeable, really.

She even let her footsteps dwell on the heavier side as she came out at the crossroads, put a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun, and yet he still didn’t turn around and spot her.

Inwardly, she rolled her eyes. He was naive as ever, it seemed.

He was easy to sneak up on. He didn’t even notice that she’d practically appeared out of thin air behind him. She filed that away for later, another advantage to have when the time came. She made sure her smile was in place, tried for her best vaguely surprised tone, and,

“I guess I’m the second?”


End file.
